PoE2 Deadfire tips/help thread

Pillars of Eternity II

azarhal

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The Deadfire tips and help thread.

Not much to say right now personally, because I'm still restarting (aka making new characters and testing them up to Fort Maje).

- Use ~ and write cosmic pig, cosmic bird and cosmic cat to get Cosmo, Orbit and Luna, 3 pets free pets (using the ~ this way doesn't disable achievements)

You choices of POE1 ending affect a bunch of things (I used the custom legacy maker, didn't try all the permutations).
- Pledging to Berath and doing what was asked at the end of POE1 result in you getting a quickslot item that AOE heals and for AOE frighten. I haven't tested it yet though.
- Doing Galawain's request instead result in Edèr having +HP passive.
- Pissing all the gods off result in nothing at the start of the game (I expect repercussion later though).
 
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- Use ~ and write cosmic pig, cosmic bird and cosmic cat to get Cosmo, Orbit and Luna, 3 pets free pets (using the ~ this way doesn't disable achievements)
I'm confirming this - these three commands are not considered cheats but are means to get a sort of hidden pets. No, I don't like when the stuff is given to you easily and just because, but won't object on freebies that would be behind microtransactions elsewhere.

Cannot confirm those other stuff nor will. Eternity1 choices used in the sequel as stats/skills/items micromanagement is IMO a critical fail.

A tip from me. The game uses stupid day/night cycles everywhere and on everyone. God bless Original Sin. Also it fails to spawn quest objective NPCs sometimes during timechanges. Yes, the cycles idiocy is abused in Eternity like crazy so you have to be somewhere at certain time in many cases (example the gang that is on the street only during night). In other cases your quest solution depends when you're talking to someone (example, you'll have better results in negotiating with Luca during night when he's in tavern than during day when he's at work).
To "clear" an area make sure you explore it thoroughy at least twice - once during day and once during night. Every single area including houses. To avoid NPC didn't spawn bug, use savescumming. In other words, on daytime change (rest or wait) make quicksave/quickload.
Atrocity of the year if you ask me, if you don't ask me it's 10/10 says review on MMORPG site.
 
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I knew about the Cosmic Bird from the German "Gamestsr" magazine ... My plan was to post about it when the game was released, but apparingly other people at the official forums have been faster - no wonder, since it is a printed magazine.

I didn't use them yet. I believe now that it is better for me to play POE1 through first.
 
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Seems that Original Sin dialogue trick works also in Eternity 2 when it comes to stealing (didn't try this yet so cannot confirm), although somewhat differently:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/560130/discussions/0/2828702372992245160/
It's a bit logical that if NPC is distracted…
But anyway. I'm quite successful with "legit" stealing from containers so far, but some locks I couldn't pick yet. :(

-

Shipfights made easy? Use grapeshots instead of normal cannonballs. It'll hurt (kill) the opposing crew.
 
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:rolleyes: - scratch the upper shipfights hint if you're not sinking ships but boarding instead. Upon boarding, the opposing crew is fully revived and aggro on you. Until that's fixed the best hint is avoid boarding before you get all possible companions and sidekicks in Neketaka. Or hire some noname adventurers in taverns.
One might ask why bother with boarding at all. Because the manual says:
When defeating an enemy ship after boarding them you will gain more rewards than you would have had you sunk the ship.

Do not respec characters. It's bugged and will remove some of the unlocked talents/teachings. You won't be able to get those back.
If you need something boosted, for example mechanics so you can pick hardcore locks, hire an adventurer in the tavern. It's not that expensive and besides, better safe than sorry.
 
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Yeah, or play as a tanky character. I'm currently playing a priest, and those boarding situations are by far the most challenging fights I've had so far. They just flatten my main character right away.

Next run, I'll play something way more tanky.
 
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About that I forgot to add. If you don't have a tanky party member, use items that can summon trashmobs once per rest to block hostiles. One is easy to find during your first trip to Nekataka (explore the ship wreckage to get it) and another you can buy (or steal from a container) in smuggler's den in Nekataka (the plague cure sidequest leads to the merchant that sells it). There are probably more of those, but I didn't explore the whole city yet.

Note also, just like in Eternity1, merchant prices drop depending on your reputation with a faction. So don't buy something "nice" right away - do some sidequests first.
 
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About the ships battles, regardless of the crew revive bug, they also have difficulty level. Depending on your level scaling setting, some might be high level encounters.

About that I forgot to add. If you don't have a tanky party member, use items that can summon trashmobs once per rest to block hostiles.

Or play a Beckoner…you start with enough phrases to use the level 1 skeletons invocation. That's 6 (midget) skeletons and not need to rest to get access to it again.
 
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Good point.

More about shipfights and commands before boarding:
http://www.gamersheroes.com/game-guides/pillars-of-eternity-ii-deadfire-ship-combat-guide/

A few hints:
- From 3 options when shipfight begins don't pick "close to boarding range"as you'll take damage before boarding. Go for first option "enter combat" then repeat "full speed ahead" till you get in boarding range.
- If the opponent ship is faster than yours, use chainshots to hurt it's sails so it doesn't escape. Generally, as I mentioned already, use grapeshots to rid of enemy crew so they can't fire their cannons.
- Don't bother with buying all ship types. Buy the best one (Junk) when you can. If you want the achievement, eventually you'll get filthy rich so quicksave, buy others, quickload. Remember that your reputation can get ships cheaper!

Ship upgrades in Neketaka stores:
http://www.shacknews.com/article/104798/how-to-upgrade-your-ship-in-pillars-of-eternity-2-deadfire
Obviously Dyrwoodan Hog Nose cannons are the best (only 3 turns to reload). No brainer for sails and hull upgrades as Dragonwing and Blackwood give best bonus.
There are more upgrades of course for example Bardatto Hull (+5 hull health, +2% speed) you get from helping them, but so far I didn't find any that would be better from buyable ones.

Finally I have to suggest avoiding shipfights till you explore Neketaka thoroughly.
 
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Whenever you see grapling hook in a store - buy it!
Sure, you can pass through stuff without it, but too many times it's the overall best (and usually fastest) solution.
 
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A few notes on character creating and party management on level up. I wish I knew this before starting the game as because of retraining being bugged now I can't "fix" anything.

Alchemy and Explosives are utterly useless stats. Don't take any of those for your hero. In fact don't take them on anyone, there are a few alchemy dialogue checks that gain you basically nothing.

Whatever you're combining, as high as possible perception on the main character seems a must. Unlike the first game where mechanics was used for detection (traps, secrets and dialogue) here it's perception that does that job. High mechanics is also a must to unlock containers and remove traps, but you can have it on a companion.

There is so called Party Assist in the game where a portion of party members skill is added to dialogue checks. So let's say your Metaphysics is 1 and Eder's is also 1. On dialogue check it'll add up and count as 2. If 2 was needed, thanks to your companion you'd pass the check!
Note though I said a portion. What does this mean? Let's say both your hero and Eder have 10 metaphysics. No, the ending result won't be 20. It'll be 14 as Eder's part will add just 4 because it's set that +1 from each companion occurs at their 1/2/4/7/11/16/22 stat value.
Gives what? You should put 1-2 points in all companions stats so they add up as much as possible.
Why not 4? Because there are certain stats usually used in dialogue from only one character. For example athletics when you send one companion to dive or stealth if you want to ambush something. So do train at least one companion with stealth, another athletics and another with survival - these three are commonly used in checks.
A bit rarer but still appearing are metaphysics and arcane. So don't neglect arcane on your spellcasters (both healer and mage).

Don't forget that party assist works only if people are close to each other on the map. If your party is far away from the protagonist,there will be no boost!
 
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Alchemy is useful for one class: the Nalpaza(sp?) Monk.

Arcane is required to use scrolls and increase the potency of them. And scroll cast time is faster than using the spell itself.

Maia at 17 perception can do the detect job with food/magic items. Perception check in dialogues aren't unique resolve and intelligence have almost as much and they all top at 20.
 
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Alchemy prolongs drugs effects and makes the effects stronger. Drugs aren't restricted to monks. You may buff your stats for dialogue checks with drugs which means alchemy is the best option for protagonist?
No. It's still useless.

Arcane… I said it's needed, right? Okay we agree on something. ;)

Currently Maia overall sux being underpowered ranger with useless pet and her personal quest sux even more. During that quest she'll leave your party and will remain unavailable for several days.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Unlike everything else in the game, the final stage of Eder's personal quest (The Lighted Path) is timed. When you learn where the certain ship is, forget whatever you're currently doing and rush for it. You will get XP even if you're too late, I did, but... Damn. So much about exploration.
 
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Alchemy prolongs drugs effects and makes the effects stronger. Drugs aren't restricted to monks.

Nalpazca Monk gain wounds and better effects from drugs, but they have penalties when they have drug effect on and 0 healing received under crash. You want drugs to last as long as you can on them.

Currently Maia overall sux being underpowered ranger with useless pet and her personal quest sux even more. During that quest she'll leave your party and will remain unavailable for several days.

With the right gear/build she can cranks up 100-200 damage per normal weapon hit while staying out of range and interrupting anything she hits. Making her a scout (ranger/rogue) is probably advised though.
 
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With right gear/build all my character crank up some serious damage. :p
Multiclassing not gonna happen on my side. :)
 
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The Deadfire tips and help thread.

Not much to say right now personally, because I'm still restarting (aka making new characters and testing them up to Fort Maje).

- Use ~ and write cosmic pig, cosmic bird and cosmic cat to get Cosmo, Orbit and Luna, 3 pets free pets (using the ~ this way doesn't disable achievements)

You choices of POE1 ending affect a bunch of things (I used the custom legacy maker, didn't try all the permutations).
- Pledging to Berath and doing what was asked at the end of POE1 result in you getting a quickslot item that AOE heals and for AOE frighten. I haven't tested it yet though.
- Doing Galawain's request instead result in Edèr having +HP passive.
- Pissing all the gods off result in nothing at the start of the game (I expect repercussion later though).

Why? There's like dozens and dozens of pets on every corner, with mostly the same stats. I'm surprised there's not separate page so that we get the "Gotta catch them all" feeling.

If you screwed any (or all of the) gods in POE1, there's a couple of curses
- Berath's one is -1 to all main stats until your character returns 75 souls back to the Wheel (view it as a kill counter)
- Gallawain's one is powering up both dragon's I've seen so far (no idea what that does that exactly, or if it affects other similar enemies)
- If there's actual curses from the other 2 gods I screwed up, I don't think I've seen them yet.

Most Mechanics I've needed so far is 15, and it was a small, trap heavy optional dungeon.

There's a couple of trainers that will raise 2 skills for the low, low price of 3000 gold. I think 3 of them were in the pirate city, 3/4 in the main city, and one where you had to go for the Orlan's quest.

You can also retrain all skills at the nearest inn, for the small cost of up to 2.5K gold and the annoyance of having to through the levelling process. Or just keep a handy, high mechanics character at hand for just such occasions.

You need 9 Metaphysics on the Watcher for the "best" solution to a certain dragon quest. You can also leave the area, mid-quest (if you choose certain dialogue options I think) if you want to pursue this option, go retrain, and go do the quest, and retrain again, if you want to go back to whatever skills you had before. Metaphysics is a nice skills to have, so far.

Skill checks sometimes take the bonus from party members and sometimes don't, including in the same conversation. I don't get why or when either of those things happen. I'm kinda wondering if spreading my points on around the seemingly good convo skills wound't have been a better idea. While there's loads of options all around, most skill checks (at least so far, I'd like to think I'm at least halfway done by now) don't seem to go very high.

The Lighted Path quest has so far been the most annoying one - once I had to get going, I beelined straight to the destination, and that ship came from the opposite direction, after I spend some rounds looking for how I missed it. Some navigator they have. It also seems buggy as hell, so careful and reload if you have to.
 
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Why? There's like dozens and dozens of pets on every corner, with mostly the same stats. I'm surprised there's not separate page so that we get the "Gotta catch them all" feeling.

There are multiple with the same +1 stats, but they usually have different party wide effects.

If you screwed any (or all of the) gods in POE1, there's a couple of curses
- Berath's one is -1 to all main stats until your character returns 75 souls back to the Wheel (view it as a kill counter)
- Gallawain's one is powering up both dragon's I've seen so far (no idea what that does that exactly, or if it affects other similar enemies)
- If there's actual curses from the other 2 gods I screwed up, I don't think I've seen them yet.

Galawain power up the dragons if you break his vow and depower them if you didn't (or just one of them?) on top of the +5 HP to Edér.

I believe Rymrgand gives you a permanent debuff (Burden of Memory -2 Resolve, -2 Might, nobody seems to have found out how to remove it, it seems to disappear after a while). I have it on my character and on reddit someone confirmed it is applied when you do the side quest where you get to talk to that god. Funny enough, with that name you'll think it was tied to Ondra (and it might be, Rymrgand was with Ondra in POE1 deal).
 
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Why? There's like dozens and dozens of pets on every corner, with mostly the same stats. I'm surprised there's not separate page so that we get the "Gotta catch them all" feeling.
Sadly most of them are plain trash.
You'll probably use one with +1 perception most of the game. For certain soulbound weapon you'll definetly use +2 resolve one. Lategame you'll have PST Morte or overgrown imp for fun - I'm avoiding spoilers on those two, just equip one of 'em and watch the banter.
Most Mechanics I've needed so far is 15, and it was a small, trap heavy optional dungeon.
Highest lock I've seen so far was 19, although the key was on the witch. But since you don't get XP if you use keys, I picked that lock before taking the key. You didn't mention that you can permanently raise one of your attributes at that spot. Which attrib you'll take? Well, since you won't be using +1 peception pet any more but Morte or Imp…

-

Another hint. Ori o Koiki island seems to be Tekehu's personal quest. Do have him in the party while there, works miracles. And Aerth too - his personal quest will "take a stroll" there.
Due to buggy Crookspur island, avoid visiting it BEFORE you explore Ori o Koiki.
 
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